A US Senator Who Thinks President Biden Needs To Rage-Tweet, And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'
Every day somebody says or does something that earns them the scorn of the internet. Here at Digg, as part of our mission to curate what the internet is talking about right now, we rounded up the main characters on Twitter from this past week and held them accountable for their actions.
This week's characters include a political science PhD candidate who doesn't get Mark Rothko, a United States senator who thinks Joe Biden needs to rage-tweet more, an author who will not accept your four-star review on Goodreads, a governor with the meanest tweet about asylum seekers and a TikTok stunt gone wrong.
Monday
Philip Bunn
The character: Philip Bunn, University of Wisconsin-Madison political science doctoral student, art critic.
The plot: Bunn tweeted several paintings by abstract artist Mark Rothko and asked, "Someone explain to me why Mark Rothko paintings are good. Please help me. These things are definitionally childish, what am I missing???"
The repercussion: Bunn was roundly dogpiled by many Rothko fans, who told Bunn to take a look at one of the artist's paintings in real life.
Bunn took the criticism in stride, saying he was wrong to call Rothko's paintings "childish." Later, he tweeted how astonished he was that people cared so much about his opinion.
Dishonorable Mention
Senator John Cornyn
The character: Texas Senator John Cornyn, known as "Big Bad John" in his campaign ads.
The plot: On Monday, Cornyn tweeted passages from a Politico story about Joe Biden's drastically different communications style from the previous commander-in-chief. "The president is not doing cable news interviews," Cornyn tweeted. "Tweets from his account are limited and, when they come, unimaginably conventional. The public comments are largely scripted. Biden has opted for fewer sit down interviews with mainstream outlets and reporters." He then added, "Invites the question: is he really in charge?"
The repercussion: Netizens roasted Cornyn for criticizing Biden for his lack of tweets and excoriated him for questioning whether he was actually in charge. "You're actually criticizing him for not ranting and taunting people on Twitter???" quipped one incredulous Twitter user.
Tuesday
Lauren Hough
The character: Lauren Hough, author, essayist, Goodreads antagonist.
The plot: On Tuesday, Hough put a Goodreads reviewer on blast for giving her book four stars instead of five. "Glad to see most of the goodreads assholes still giving 4 star reviews to show they're super tough reviewers who need to, like, fall in love, you know? Anyway. No one likes you." She then told two reviewers who had given her 4.5 stars to "Grow up."
Hough later deleted the tweets critical of the reviewers.
The repercussion: Book Twitter retaliated against Hough's outburst, with many observing that Hough's response was a case study in how not to react to a bad review — not that the reviews were bad to begin with.
The incident inspired numerous Goodreads users to flood her profile with one-star reviews.
Hough's book "Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing" has a current average score of 1.6 on Goodreads.
Wednesday
Governor Kristi Noem
The character: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, best known for opposing a mask mandate in a state with one of the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rates in the country.
The plot: In response to President Biden's efforts to help migrant children settle in the United States, Noem tweeted that her state would not be taking in "illegal immigrants," telling them to "call me when you're an American."
The repercussion: Noem's tweet on immigration was thoroughly ratioed with 12,000 quote-retweets, many of which criticized her cruel, unwelcoming tone, especially given that her state resides on Sioux land.
Dishonorable Mention
@PandaoramaLink
The character: Zach Danz, host of Pandaorama, American who can speak Mandarin.
The plot: Danz tweeted a video of himself ordering Chinese take-out food, switching from speaking English to Mandarin in hopes of surprising the host. He inserted "In The Hall of the Mountain King" to dramatize the encounter. However, much to his chagrin, the woman did not have much of a reaction to his being bilingual. "Maybe that's more interesting!" he quipped.
The repercussion: Danz's video went over like a lead balloon, with many people saying his stunt anticipating a big reaction was ill-conceived.
Danz later deleted his tweet.
Read last week's edition of One Main Character, which includes Mike Huckabee saying he identifies as Chinese, and more.
Did we miss a main character from this week? Please send tips to [email protected].
